Tenure has its purpose, but shouldn’t last a lifetime
Tenure entrenches academics in their jobs. While it’s a bulwark of academic freedom, tenure also shields those who are not currently earning their keep, as well as many who never did. The current system stymies innovation, most clearly in the area of hiring new faculty. I call for changing it.
The libertarian roots of the Lumina Foundation, Part I
Major donors like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Lumina Foundation dominate higher education philanthropy today. Most are aware of the Gates Foundation’s roots in Bill’s vast wealth, but the story of how Lumina came to be is more complicated.
A liberal arts college tries a new strategy on student debt
Indebtedness due to student loans is one of the most pressing issues in higher education today. I believe strongly that we must face this issue head on, and my institution, Adrian College, has developed a plan to do that.
A UNC program designed to help academically weak students has not delivered
The state is spending millions of dollars on a program that each year drives roughly 300 low-performing students into a four-year university, where they tend to earn poor grades, drop out, or otherwise fail to graduate within a reasonable period of time. That’s wasting taxpayer money and the time, effort, and resources of the students, faculty, and staff involved with the program.
Universities in Islamic nations make the same mistakes we do—but worse
Universities are great inventions, and they have a role everywhere, in areas rich and poor, Christian, Islamic, and even atheist. But the Law of Diminishing Returns applies: universities in small doses can disseminate and advance knowledge in welfare-inducing ways, but if expanded too fast, they produce dismal results at the margin. In the Middle East/North African region, this problem is aggravated by over-centralization.
A university president says that America is “losing her way” in higher education
A university president says that America is “losing her way” in higher education
Governor McCrory’s higher education budget proposal is conservative and pragmatic
Overall, Governor McCrory’s budget proposal aims to steer North Carolina’s higher education institutions toward more solid financial ground while encouraging university officials to be better stewards of taxpayer dollars.
Industrial relations: another academic field captured by ideology
Over the past few decades, much of American higher education has become ideologically left wing. You might have thought, however, that business schools could resist the trend. You’d be mistaken.
Let’s bring Western Governors University to North Carolina
For North Carolina, Western Governors University would be a welcome alternative to traditional credit-hour programs, particularly for adult learners who want job training and a degree—not a four-year “experience.”
There’s a silver lining in Scott Walker’s proposed $300M cut to the University of Wisconsin
Walker’s proposal would make every member of the UW system a public authority—a designation that would allow the state’s universities to take bureaucratic control of their own operations. This would effectively wash away the state’s control over major decisions such as tuition rates, hiring and firing practices, employee compensation, purchasing goods and materials, and construction projects.